Blush | Highwire Entertainment
This isn't one of the typical cabarets that tries to sell sexy as performers brushing past each other, femme figures as objects and same-sex desire as queer baiting. Blush makes the titillation of such shows seem like childhood flights of fancy. There is something truly for everyone here, with each performance celebrating love, lust, passion and desire in various forms.
A Very Naughty Christmas | Woodward Productions
This is a clever, funny, adults-only burlesque-meets-musical-theatre. It isn’t high art, it won’t test your powers of concentration, and it’s probably not going to inspire social action—but it gets 5-stars from me. Sometimes we just need an enjoyable night out.
Murder on The Dancefloor | The Mystical Menagerie
Murder on the Dancefloor was a burlesque show with a fun, interactive twist. Before the show began, we were given a piece of paper on which to make our best guess of whom the guilty party was and how they committed the murder. We then witnessed an excellent line-up of local Brisbane performers, with each act containing a weapon as the through line connecting the performances.
Blanc de Blanc Encore
Blanc de Blanc Encore delivers a high-paced 100+ minutes of variety-style entertainment, ranging from song, dance and European-style clowning, through to foot-juggling, Chinese pole and aerials. Be ready for a quick and entertaining ride.
Briefs: The Classics | Briefs Factory
As a shameless Briefs groupie, I’d seen all the acts before, but that didn’t matter in the slightest. All the performers know how to work the crowd and respond to the audience’s energy, camping up acts and whipping us into a frenzied applause at the drop of a hat. And of course, Shivannah kept the show moving at a high pace with her winning commentary and stunning outfits sourced from op shops around the world.
Ensnare Burlesque | Wynnum Fringe 21
On the Wynnum Fringe Podcast series, Ophelia explained ‘inclusivity’ being a big driver for her project Ensnare, and this was definitely achieved. Showcasing a deliciously diverse set of bodies, skills, and genres, it was clear that at Ensnare, everyone is welcome and celebrated.
"People like the darkside, but they are afraid to show it." - Madeline Glasseater on making a feast out of occult and sideshow
A cult-theme sideshow but with burlesque, striptease, and danger. There’ll be lots of fire, sharp things, even a little bit of acrobatics which is a bit cute. Putting that all together will be like in a haunted mansion with paranormal activity. We wanted to do a really big theatre show for once and put it up on a big stage and use that to our advantage.
Wynnum Fringe. It's a wrap.
The locals packed out the free festivities reaching capacity with a one-in one-out by about 5pm on the Saturday, milling around drinking trendy seltzers and watching the music and circus on the free stages. Many of the ticketed shows sold-out – no doubt in some small part due to the Covid-restrictions, yet I feel confident that tickets would have sold at double the capacity. Tickets were priced to welcome locals and artists and those with depleted 2020 incomes, and the range of shows was nicely balanced between safe choices and delicious wildcards. This was a very quick turnaround for such a fab festival!